Il Grifone

Elvis* is a very picky feeder, but Dreamies are always accepted.... *Originally Citrullo (a dialect word - look it up for meaning. it wasn't altogether wrong!) and not officially our cat (though he now thinks he is) as we are looking after him for the local refuge centre. He came to us scared of his own shadow and would go into hiding when we appeared to feed him. Cat treats made him think that perhaps these hoomans weren't trying to eat him after all* and now he's integrated with the other cats (and dogs) and adores being made a fuss of - a complete turn round, and meritorious of a proper name. * Creatures who will share these can't be all bad!

I assume tjat would that be the 16 foot (64mm over headstocks) generic chassis inherited from Tri-ang (i.e. six inches short for a 16T mineral). There are several versions of this. The Dublo/Wrenn version is not suitable as it is a scale 17 foot 6 inches long, despite supposedly being the same wagon.

My opinion is that you need at least five coaches to represent an express passenger train. That woud be about six feet including locomotive and a bit of breathing space. As stated, at least 2nd radius is necessary. A similar length is necessary for goods trains (about fifteen wagons).

A really cute little dark grey kitten appeared a couple of days ago. It seemed to be on good terms with the other visitors, especially Geronimo, but has disappeared again. Hopefully it's returned home as it looked well cared for. The weather seems to have turned autumnal today - only 20 degrees and a bit rainy. There seems to be a general, "we want to come in!". Toby has just appeared - he is usually out and about when it isn't food time. Likewise Raphael (large Siamese) who is curled up in a tiny box on the kitchen table. There a John Wayne western on TV. It looked interesting with an American 4-4-0 on screen, but that didn't last long.... The visitors will need their shots if they become housecats. (Help!) My left index finger is almost recovered from trying to get Marina in her carrier for a trip to the vet a couple of weeks ago. it required a course of antibiotics and the swelling has still not quite gone down. Don't get me started on the delights of applying Spot-on!

A bit late replying as I missed it back then! The Dublo controller used three 4.5V bell batteries with screw terminals connected in series. These were very expensive (3 or 4 shillings each IIRC*). It was claimed this would give nine hours operation. They were hefty beasts (presumably would last for ever (or almost their shelf life anyway) powering a door bell) and would have no difficulty powering a Dublo motor. These seem to be no longer available, though the similarly chunky 6V lantern batteries are - at £3/£4 a shot. Wilko used to stock them, but that's no longer an option!

I have travelled in German coaches when we were living in Liguria in the 70s/80s. No Gr.746s though - strictly hauled by electric locomotives (mainly 'Caimani' and 'Tartarughe').

As I understand it (and would welcome being proved wrong!) ordering from China (or elsewhere abroad) used to have an exception for customs duty/VAT for small orders (around £18 IIRC). The EU in its wisdom has scrapped this and now all orders are liable. This is not so bad in itself, but there is a hefty charge on top for the privelege of paying it. Despite Brexit, this also applies to the UK and also applies to orders to and from the EU. I recentlytried to send some personal items from the UK to Italy, as I have done in the past without problems. The shipping agency now requires a detailed list of the contents (for customs) and was all set to charge me EU import duties (based on the insured value). Being of low value I put this at zero as, being pre-owned personal property, they are not liable to EU import duty, but the shipping form does not include this option! Back on topic, Lima wheels have two types - a rather nasty sharp flanged effort in bright chrome colour and a rather better dark coloured version. The diameter is 11.5mm (1 metre in H0 scale) on a 24.5mm long pinpoint axle of 2mm diameter. Standards are approximately the standard Hornby (Dublo) in use since 1938 and are not really compatible with code 75 track. I have a programme of replacing them with something finer (I have a stock of 12mm Jackson disc wheels (available for Grifone friendly prices at toyfairs). These suffer from variable diameter axles and some need reaming out. Plastic or card inserts will convert the spoked variety to disc. To be fair they do run quite well on code 100 track though some do have eccentric insulating bushes (one per wheelset as one wheel is live to the axle without any bush).

The 'presents' had stopped for a while, but we have recently had a whole mouse, a whole rat, and two gecko heads (yeech!). The kittens have now settled in on the front terrace with Geronimo. it looks like we have four more feline additions to the family! My daughter came back home lunch time and reported having just seen a vulture. I went up the road to look, but it had already gone. On turning back, I saw that I had three kittens trailing after me. (They had already been fed!) This mission was terminated as soon as I headed back home. Their portion of of the lunchtime chicken made me even more popular! They are not at all worried by the dogs, not even puppy Spot who is rather bouncy and boisterous. We are told he is mainly smooth haired segugio (as are his siblings and the dog we suspect is their dad). His mum is wire haired. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segugio_Italiano#Character

Puppy Alex departed for his furever home yesterday. He is going to live in Belgium! We are all feeling the hole in our lives, especially his brother Spot, but to make up for it three beautiful kittens appeared this morning. they stopped in front of our gate and then came in to be greeted by Geronimo. They were followed by Felicity - presumably their mum. The friendly reception of all four suggests he's their Dad. The kitties are quite friendly and look well cared for which suggests another home somewhere. The food disappeared quite quickly though. Geronimo kept being pushed away and resorted to paw cuffs, but with no sign of claws, lending further support to the dad theory. They must be 12 weeks old from my calculations.

Pre Brentry in fact. 🙂 I have a feeling I have one of these signal boxes stashed away in a junk box somewhere. i'll have a look!

There is space in the tender for weight attached to an extension of the drawbar or the tender can rest on the drawer with the first and second axles or front bogie just 'going along for the ride'. I would expect a 4-6-0 to be able to shift at least 15 modern coaches fitted with pin-point axles.

QUOTE Geronimo looks like a big old street Tom. Give him a home and neuter him if he’s not already done and he will settle into being the softest lap cat you ever met. At least that’s what happened with my old Captain, gorgeous old big hairy brick! Andi It's in programme. Since there is also Sofia to do, we are waiting for the right moment.

Have you tried running the loco without the pony trucks? This would at least clear any suspicion of fouling the frames. It might be necessary to fit check rails to curb any tendency for the wheels to go the wrong way.

The pickup strips need to be clean and free of twists so as to press flat onto the wheelbacks, but not too hard obviously. Crud needs removing from the the slots in the commutator, which should be clean. Do not use the wire brushes so beloved by the 'servicing experts' on Youtube. Tri-ang wheels are not the world's best in any case and benefit from replacement. The later Hornby nylon gears are 28:1 ratio rather than 20:1 and help curb the tendency of the model to simulate a rocket in take off. The cycling lions faced forward both sides on steam locos. The dartboard bearing ferrets did likewise until 1959.

Mine are upstairs at the moment. I'll have a look tomorrow, but the screws will be something metric.

I think they know it already! Whiskers and Lewis were sharing Arran's bed yesterday, tail to tail.

The nasty stuff is still available in Italian supermarkets. You can also get almost neat (95%) alcohol. On the plus side wine starts at about 1€ a litre!

This is Kitten Tinkerbell and this one is Ziggy, hard at work, and Visitor Pussycat Geronimo. (He has ideas about moving in, but is still rather timid. Strangely he is not worried about the dogs at all.)

Top to bottom: puppies - Spot, Alex, and Brenno resting from the stress of life and Brenno in the garden. Brenno has just gone to his furever home today.

Whiskers the cat decided not to come with us on this morning's walk*, but we were joined by a griffon to make up for it. It was circling overhead for a while and then passed directly overhead at quite a low level and then headed off towards the next village. Obviously the dogs were completely underwhelmed by this experience! * Possibly chicken leftovers had something to do with this, as he came out to see his 'visitor' friends Sophia and Geronimo when we got back. (We called him 'Wounded Warrior' as he has come off worse in a fight in the past (possibly with a dog - his poor ears are all mangled), but now he has taken up residence in the shelter we built for strays, so needed a proper name. He was very shy at first but is getting used to us and almost friendly, even with the dogs, but he refuses to come in.) We don't really need another cat (yes we do of course!) as we have quite a few in our care already, plus our two large dogs and three puppies we are looking after for the local shelter. (They were only supposed to be here 'for a few days!')

The axles push out of the frames in the earlier metal bogies. There is no need to bend them. Better to replace the bogies however - the wagon already sits high on the original 10mm (circa) wheels. Many years ago I repainted a Tri-ang bogie bolster* to a GWR MACAW B, replacing the awful bogies with Ratio ones. Then Mainline brought out a far superior product! The bogies now sit under a Dublo WELTROL MV. (Incorrect - there shouldn't be lightening holes - so one day they will be replaced! - The original plate frame bogies would have been OK (overwidth?) with 10mm wheels, but mine had the diamond frame ones. *The brown one from the second link I think, but mine was grey.

Undoubtedly, but there would have been little demand without a shift to metric.

Before WW1, I gather that model railways were rather the province of the well heeled. (They still are now at today's prices for new items!) The famous 'Railway Children' (must read it one day - Jenny Agutter film not withstanding!) were obviously not short of the proverbial shilling. (The faulty locomotive was presumably a 'dribbler'?)

As I said, I have yet to try the 'cure'. The nasty stuff* is waiting for me to get around to it, as is the remains of a pre-war Dublo N2 chassis... (broken into several chunks). *When last seen the screw top bottle was half empty - presumably evaporated. It's not a high priority project.... Apart from these bits, I have a TTR Princess body (a bit warped and fractured where I tried to straighten it) - not much chance of repair and no chassis (maybe a Tri-ang one?) -probably not worth the trouble - and various Farish wagons and Pullman chassis - definitely not worth the trouble

The dreaded pest is caused by impurities in the alloy and can be accelerated by vibration, which is why it shows up frequently in wheels. Rivarossi Memory claims a cure, but it invoves nasty chemicals and I have yet to try it. http://www.rivarossi-memory.it/Tecnica/Peste_Zama_cura/Curare_peste_zama.htm Sorry it's in Italian - Google translate.